Two skulls likely belonging to enslaved people returned to Brazil after Harvard used them in eugenics studies

Remains believed to have belonged to Africans or Afro-Brazilians repatriated after being flown back by diplomats

Two skulls, including that of a man believed to have taken part in Brazil’s greatest slave revolt but whose remains were taken to the United States and used in racist eugenics studies at Harvard University, were repatriated on Wednesday.

The remains had been outside Brazil since the 19th century. One was taken about 190 years ago from Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia; the other, about 160 years ago, from Rio de Janeiro – and were welcomed back in moving, subdued ceremonies in both cities.